New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-07-10
FICTION.
FOUR STRONG STORIES

II.
12mo, PIP. 2i6 Benjamin * Bell
GAME OF CHANCE BY ANNE SHELDON CooxDs
I2mo PIP. 245. ID. Appleton Co.
AZ ES% sSS Ra }s% p
Csssell Co.
The Crusade of the Excelsior" is the Longest
story Bret Harte has written since Gabriel
Couroy." 1t Ia better novel than the latter. The
central conce ption is fresh and unused 1t Is full
of quaint and odd situations And yet there is an
absence Of vraisembianoe about 1t which weakens
the interest and gives a shsdowy phantasmal tone
to the story. The idea OF passenger vessel being
belonged off the California coast and drifting into
a little harbor where, concealed from the outer
world by perennial mists an old Mexican mission
has survived all political and changes
and drowsily maintains the ways Of a century ago.
Is certainly full of suggestion, and Mr. Hartc has
made good use of it. The picture of Todos Santos,
the oasis walled in by deserts andward all around
and hidden seward by the fertllizing fogs which
shelter the little colony from prying eyes and at
the same time cheer the stranded community with
OVERLOOKING growths IN every kind Is delightful
and is delicatoly done. Into this old-fashioned
place, whore the Comandante, the Alcalde, and tho
head Of the mission. Father Esteban, bear sway
over half-animal Indians and handful Of Mexican
troopers and craftsmen. suddenly descend the
passengers of tho Excelsior" Some Boston
married women on their way to Join their husbands
at San Francisco. some Boston young mon Of bust
ness pretty girl unattached, q mysterious youth
named Hurlstone, and another mystery
going by the name of Don Perkins, an American
fibuster devoted to tho liberation of South Amer
lean States, constitute the modern clement Some
quietly humorous touches mark the commixture Of
these homogeneous people, and for short time the
effect of the Spanish civilization upon that OF Bos-
n,,t he Il nffa he
passengers land the Excelsior" disappears from
her anchorage stolen. in fact, by Don Perkins. In
the name of that Republic Of Quinquinambo viii III
he Is engaged in founding The consequence Of
this catastrophe Is that the entire party are fixed
at Todos Santos. and III appearance permanently
since they are told that a ship has only visited the
place once in fifty years To support this statement
the Mexicans profess entire ignorance of all changes
in the world much less than century old. They
are ignorant of the declaratIonof independence by
the United States aud of course know nothing of
the conquest OF California.
Eventually it appears that this pretence Of igno-
rance has been employed automatically to conceal
the fact that ship touches at Todos Santos on co
in two or three years. Long enough IN sooth but
still an endurable period and not a lifetime The
enervatIng climate. however. the courteous treat
ment experienced from their hosts and the placid
ity and stagnation OF all their surroundings, throw
most of the new arrivals into q sort Of lotusea,ing
dream and they tolerate their captivity
easily aud in fact lapse into the prevail
ing Incidence with scarcely struggle. There
is the usual love story, which duplicates one OF the
mysterious passengers there is some mild political
in which Don Perkins appears and disap-
pears At last the monOtonous life at Todos Santos
is broken by tho sudden arrival overland of the
bua vi ara mt n liffla eur
prsed at the eccentric costumes of their spouses An
and rather revolving note Is injected
Into this dreamy story by the execution, at the
hands Of platoon. of poor Don Perkins. whose last
scheme fails. and who is betrayed by his own fol-
lowers No doubt the author had ample precedent
for this episode but nevertheless 1t Is out Of har
mony with the spirit of the tale. The people here
brought together arc pleasant amusing sprightly
but they are not real. We like them In their way
but they have no business with tragedy. Ii Is ike
trying to make marionettes shed real tears. Flrt-
ing and taking sestas and blending Boston "cult-
ure " with the Old school courtesies and graces OF
the Comandante and Alcade. seem perfectly natur-
al to Mr. Hartes figures and 1t Is all done very pref
tiy and in his highest manner. But the killing or
Don Perkins is discordant, and there seems no occa
SION Tor it, IL is IN Short mistake IN the circum-
stances though perhaps not of capital Importance,
seeing INhJ INC Hioio
than summer novel. though q clever aud bright
one.
In "Mr Incouls Misadventure" we have an
experiment. Tne author. Mr.. Edgar
Satus. is by literary preference an expounder OF
Man delights not him-no, nor
woman NEITHER he regards this world as
hollow sham, the whence and whittier of man as
insoluble riddles, the attainment of gertrude In
and tba hnla
existing system Of things as a delusion and
nockery Not that Mr.. Saitus is an altogether con-
sistent PessImist, for it is evident from the SAVIOR
Of his writings that no takes real delight in his
grim philosophy, and, OF course. no consistent
Pessmist would do that. But Mr. Saltus has
to produce pessimist novel, and the
effect of bis philosophy upon his fiction is decidedly
the most interesting thing in " Dir. Incoups Misad
venture" Mr.. Incoul Is New-York mil ionaire;
a man who has inherited, together with vim
dictiye nature mile of real estate IN tho heart OF
the city. Beginning his career rather tempestu-
ously, marriage Gains him, and for twenty years
or so he leads the life of wealthy bourgeois blame
lessly Then his wife. whom he loved dies, and
he thinks life has ceased to DO worth living. Time,
however heals his wounds. and after some two
years of loneliness he sees and is strongly i'm
pressed by beautiful poor girl. This beautiful
poor girl happens already to be in love
with Lenox Leigh, Baltimorean Of much
physical charm. o small income, and no
principles worth mentioning. Mr. IncOul proposes
TO MAZDA. who finally accepts him, but
on the condition that they shall DO husband and
wife only in name until such time as she feels that
she can love him. She marries him for his money,
and he marres her for no better reason apparently
than to be able to look at her always They 60 to
Europe. Lenox Leigh, who has promised not to go
near MAZDA, promptly perjures himself. MAZDA.
who was adamant in tho absence of temptation,
avails herself of their first meeting the continent
to yield like wax. Mr.. Incou returns unex pectedly
one night to find his apartments illuminated after
IL o'clock The lights put out just as he drives
up, and on entering the house he meets Lenox
Leigh on the stars He says nothing. but takes
MAZDA to Paris next day. Then the young wife has